A technique for spread-spectrum communication which uses more than one mode and more than one frequency band. Selectable modes include narrowband mode and spread-spectrum mode, or cellular mode and microcellular mode. Selectable frequency bands include both licensed and unlicensed frequency bands, particularly frequency bands including the 902-928 MHz, 1850-1990 MHz, and 2.4-2.4835 GHz frequency bands. Spread-spectrum communication channels are 10 MHz or less in width. The frequency band onto which spread-spectrum signals are encoded may be changed upon a change in environment or other control trigger, such as establishment or de-establishment of communication with a private access network. A multi-band transmitter comprises a single frequency synthesizer and a frequency source (e.g., a local oscillator), coupled to a selectable band pass filter. A multi-band receiver capable of monitoring one or more frequency bands comprises bank of bandpass filters and a demodulator comprising a single frequency synthesizer and a frequency source.

Multi-band, multi-mode spread-spectrum communication system

The present invention provides a system for operating a power line communications system that is comprised of a plurality of network elements, which may take the form of repeaters, bypass devices, backhaul devices, wireless backhaul devices, enhanced bypass device, communication interface devices and others. In one embodiment, two groups of network elements in the same electrical distribution system are isolated except selected communication link.

Power line communication system and method of operating the same

The present invention provides a system for operating a power line communications system that employs surface wave communications and conducted communications. The system is comprised of a plurality of network elements, which may take the form of repeaters, communication interface devices, backhaul devices, medium voltage transducers, distribution points, aggregation points, and others. In one embodiment, surface waves are communicated over the medium voltage power lines and the conducted communications are communicated via the low voltage power lines to and from customer premises.

Surface wave power line communications system and method

A device for providing communications through power lines that are communicatively coupled to an electrical distribution network infrastructure and to the internal wiring of at least one customer premises having one or more communication devices therein is provided. One embodiment comprises a coupler configured to be coupled to the electrical distribution network infrastructure, a modem in communication with the coupler to communicate data through the power lines; and a wireless transceiver in communication with said modem. In some embodiments, the electrical distribution network infrastructure may be a structure that uses electricity, such as a street light.

Device and method for coupling with electrical distribution network infrastructure to provide communications

A digital content distribution and subscription system for digital data files, which provides subscriber (64) with music or video (62) for a fee.Subscribers (64) may subscribe to a predetermined number of song slots for a period of time.The subscriber (64) may select songs from various play lists, which causes encrypted digital audio files (68) for the selected music to be downloaded to the subscriber's PC.A license key (66) is downloaded to the subscriber's PC to enable the selected songs to be decoded and displayed for a predetermined time period.At the expiration of the time period, the license key (66) expires.Each subscriber's selections are tabulated for the purpose of toyality tracking and payment of a license fee to the copyright holder.The current system provides subscribers (64) with relatively high-quality digital audio files (68) and allows subscribers (64) to select from a wide range of stored digital audio files (68) on demand while not violating copyright laws.

Digital content distribution and subscription system

A power line communication system specially designed for use in local network (LAN) configurations has receiver and transmitter sections for fast, highly reliable data communication. The receiver (Fig. 1) includes controlled adaptive second order filters (34, 38) for ensuring data reception in virtually any signal environment having noise and distorsion characteristics, especially alternating current (AC) power lines. A wideband phase shift-keyed (PSK) carrier is impressed on the transmission medium (20), the carrier having power spread approximately uniformly across a useful frequency bandwidth. A transmitter section (Fig. 4) is arranged for adaptive feedback control of the transmitted signal power, so as to prevent possible damage to the transmitter when the transmission medium impedance is low. A logic control circuit (44) provides a correlation count of a received signal in comparison with a known reference signal in order to effectively achieve phase synchronization between the receiver and transmitter.

Power line communication apparatus.

A novel apparatus and method are provided for data communication over noisy media. The apparatus includes one or both of a transmitter circuit located at a transmitting location and a receiver circuit located at a receiving location. The data is encoded to provide error correction capabilities. The encoded signal is further modified by performing one or more linear mathematical operations in order to further randomize the data signal. The transmitter circuit thus generates a wideband spread spectrum signal based on the data which is to be transmitted, which spreads the signal and improves its immunity to noise. The coding used to spread the data signal may or may not be a function of the data itself. The present invention provides enhanced noise immunity without any resulting degradation in the operation and efficiency of the error correction coding. A synchronization circuit and method are also provided for quickly achieving fast, accurate synchronization utilizing parallel synchronization and sub-bit correlation. The error correction is used to correct hard and soft errors, and dynamically adjust the combination of hard and soft errors corrected in order to improve the overall data error correction.

Method and apparatus for data encoding and communication over noisy media

A media access control (MAC) controller is disclosed for a network providing communication for network stations (110,120,130) located at a plurality of customer premises and sharing a communication medium, each of the premises having a plurality of network stations. The MAC controller includes a virtual local area network (vLAN) controller, providing access to the communication medium for and communication among the stations located at a single customer's premises, to define a vLAN (fig.1) between them. A group local area network (gLAN) controller provides access to the communication medium for and communication among interfering vLANs, two vLANs being considered to be interfering when one can sense communications over the medium from a station in the other. A MAC controller is provided in at least one station in a vLAN. The MAC controller is preferably connected to use as the communication medium the portion of a power line at the output of the last step down transformer (fig.1) and utilizes a token passing protocol (204) to control access to the medium.

Power line communication network

The present invention uses digital communications over a non-telephone wiring network (220) (i.e. existing power line distribution network) to provide telephone line service to individual users (210). The telephone line service is "on-demand" in that any user can interface a telephonic device to the electrical wiring (220) and instantly obtain telephone line service. The present system may be used to provide primary telephone service and alternatively secondary telephone service for those not willing to pay for dedicated line service. For primary or secondary service, the telephone number associated with the line may be assigned by the telephone company, or utility company, or may be a uniquely assigned telephone number hardwired into each particular telephone to be connected to the electrical wiring (220). The additional "on-demand" telephone lines may be assigned an identifier, such as a suffix, for use in routing calls to and from the particular "on-demand" line.

Reconfigurable on-demand telephone and data line system

The location of a device on an electrical power line is identified using a power line characteristic, such as a power line impedance as a function of frequency, and/or a power line transfer function identified from the first device to a second device communicating with the first device over the electrical power line. Power line information is determined by receiving a signal from a first device, determining a power line transfer function based on the received signal, and determining power line information based on the determined power line transfer function.

David L. Propp

Papers

Power line communication apparatus.

Method and apparatus for data encoding and communication over noisy media

Power line communication network

Reconfigurable on-demand telephone and data line system

Identification of power line locations by power line signatures